In August, we were lucky enough to meet up with and deliver a 3-day Career Coach Course to staff from the Careers Center of the University of Maribor, Slovenia. For those that don’t know, Slovenia is a part of the Former Yugoslavia and sits atop Croatia in the beautiful Adriatic coast.
Our remit was to raise the profile of the Careers Center, engage the key stakeholders and enhance their career coaching skills. The 4 delegates were excellent ambassadors for the University and very forward thinking in their outlook for promoting the Careers Center within the University.
Day 1 consisted of looking at the Strategic direction and how to align it with the University’s overall strategy. Once this had been discussed, we ensured that over the next 3 days the strategy was to be reviewed and amended as we progressed. After the strategy, we completed some DISC training to ascertain the strengths of each delegate and how they could compliment each other in their daily work. Very interesting exercise and certainly provided a clear set of skill groups within the team. Day 1 finished with a complete look at Social Media including LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and more and how to best utilise this amongst the stakeholder.
Day 2 was a Career Coaching session using the Sprint Careers Toolbox to enhance the current methodology of the staff.
Day 3 consisted of how to engage the key stakeholders: Students, Staff, Alumni and Employers. We looked at 4 different aspects including strategically, career and web based and sales & marketing skills.
At the end of the course, the delegates received their end of course certificate and prepared for a night of sightseeing in Birmingham with Sprint Directors Andy Murray and Gary Clarke.
Overall, this was a fantastic opportunity to meet the delegates and learn how different cultures work in the Career Coaching field. We are hopeful that at some point in the near future we can visit the university and see first hand how our course has benefitted the Careers Center and to build an ongoing relationship with the Team at the University of Maribor Careers Center.